Overdue

Ep 738 - Glorious Exploits, by Ferdia Lennon

January 19, 2026

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  • The episode of *Overdue*, Ep 738 - Glorious Exploits, by Ferdia Lennon, focuses on Lennon's debut historical fiction novel set in 412 BCE Syracuse amidst the Peloponnesian War, centered on staging Euripides' plays for Athenian prisoners of war in a quarry. 
  • The author, Ferdia Lennon, was inspired by a historical detail in Plutarch where surviving Athenian prisoners quoted Euripides, leading him to create fictional protagonists, Lampo and Gellen, who organize a production of *Medea* and *The Trojan Women* to humanize the captives. 
  • The narrative explores themes of humanity versus wartime brutality, contrasting the Syracusan desire for vengeance (symbolized by imprisoning Athenians in the quarry) with the protagonists' attempt to preserve culture and find purpose through theater. 
  • The Athenian prisoners' production of Euripides in the quarry, intended to foster shared humanity, culminates in a violent tragedy when Bluto massacres most of the performers after a realistic depiction of Astianax's death. 
  • Lampo ultimately organizes a perilous escape for the Athenians, driven by a sense of purpose and a desire to save his friends, even as Gellen's faith is shattered by the play's disastrous outcome. 
  • The book's thematic core, highlighted by Lampo's final act of playing music amidst the rats, suggests that the effort of trying—whether through art or rescue—is inherently worthwhile, even against overwhelming despair. 

Segments

Sponsor Read: Cozy Earth
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(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Cozy Earth is offering a BOGO pajama deal from January 25th to February 8th, including a 100-night sleep trial and a 10-year warranty.
  • Summary: Cozy Earth is promoting a limited-time BOGO pajama deal for Valentine’s Day season. Their lightweight bamboo pajama sets come with a 100-night sleep trial and a 10-year warranty. Listeners can use the code OverdueBOGO for the deal.
Sponsor Read: Marley Spoon
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(00:01:17)
  • Key Takeaway: Marley Spoon offers 45% off the first order plus free delivery using the code Overdue at their specific URL.
  • Summary: Marley Spoon provides prepared meals for convenience, addressing the difficulty of meal planning. Listeners can receive 45% off their first order and free delivery by visiting marleyspoon.com/slash offer/slash overdue.
Sponsor Read: Mint Mobile
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(00:02:29)
  • Key Takeaway: Mint Mobile is offering 50% off unlimited premium wireless plans until the end of January, with plans starting at $15 a month.
  • Summary: Mint Mobile is running an end-of-year sale until the end of January, offering 50% off unlimited premium wireless plans. This allows customers to cut costs compared to ‘Big Wireless’ plans. The offer requires upfront payment for three, six, or twelve months.
Podcast Introduction and Context
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(00:03:56)
  • Key Takeaway: The hosts of Overdue introduce the episode covering Ferdia Lennon’s 2024 historical fiction debut, Glorious Exploits, set in 400s BC Sicily during the Peloponnesian War.
  • Summary: The hosts establish that the podcast covers books listeners have been meaning to read, noting that this episode focuses on a historical era far removed from the present. The book, Glorious Exploits, is set around the 400s BC, specifically during the Peloponnesian War. The hosts also mention that Lennon spent seven years writing the novel, often stepping away when he felt it was terrible.
Historical Context and Sources
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(00:06:57)
  • Key Takeaway: The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) pitted Athenian naval power against Spartan land power, and the book’s setting relates specifically to the disastrous Athenian Sicilian expedition against Syracuse.
  • Summary: The discussion contrasts the historical influence of playwright Euripides versus historian Thucydides, who wrote during the war but stopped before its conclusion. Plutarch, writing centuries later, provides details like the Athenians quoting Euripides to their captors in the Syracuse quarry, though his reliability is questioned due to the time gap.
Authorial Intent and Character Dynamics
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(00:17:36)
  • Key Takeaway: Ferdia Lennon intentionally created a buddy-duo dynamic for the main characters, influenced by tropes like Beckett’s Didi and Gogo, to make the ancient setting more accessible to modern readers.
  • Summary: Lennon aimed to avoid characters sounding like they stepped out of a Merchant Ivory production by employing a vernacular, Dublin-esque voice. The two main characters, Lampo (wise-acre) and Gellen (visionary), are former unemployed potters who decide to stage Euripides’ plays for the Athenian prisoners.
The Quarry Production Setup
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(00:32:02)
  • Key Takeaway: The Syracusans decided to imprison captured Athenians (around 7,000 men) in a quarry rather than building a prison, and Gellen proposes staging Euripides’ Medea and The Trojan Women there.
  • Summary: Following the Athenian defeat in Sicily around 412 BCE, the Syracusans chose to confine the prisoners in the quarry, expecting them to starve. Gellen, inspired by Euripides, convinces Lampo to recruit Athenian prisoners with theatrical talent to stage plays, viewing it as a way to preserve Athenian culture.
Finances and Subplots
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(01:00:11)
  • Key Takeaway: Lampo’s initial success in securing funds and status through his producer, Turieann, is quickly reversed when he spends lavishly, restoring the ’natural order’ of his poverty.
  • Summary: Lampo secures money from the producer Turieann by selling armor stripped from Athenian corpses, allowing him to buy new clothes and bribe a bar owner who had previously banned him. This spending spree immediately depletes his funds, leading to a fight with his cousin who supplied the food, reinforcing Lampo’s lower-class status.
Lampo’s Rescue Planning
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(01:05:04)
  • Key Takeaway: The play’s advertising expands beyond the quarry Athenians to attract people from Syracuse.
  • Summary: Lampo begins advertising the Euripides production to draw audiences from Syracuse into the quarry. The opening of the play is rough, with the chorus suffering stage fright, leading the Syracusan audience to mock the Athenians. Medea’s monologue eventually captures the audience’s attention, turning the tide of the performance.
Bluto’s Violent Intervention
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(01:06:32)
  • Key Takeaway: Bluto violently interrupts the play’s climax, killing most Athenian participants.
  • Summary: As the performance of Trojan Women concludes, Bluto storms the stage, enraged by the Athenians’ presence, and kills almost all of them. The rampage only pauses when Bluto strikes a Syracusan child, but it ultimately ends when he murders a Syracusan musician who tries to defend the Athenians. This act makes Bluto a murderer with a price on his head in Syracuse.
Post-Rampage Aftermath and Escape
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(01:08:00)
  • Key Takeaway: Syracuse halts food supplies, forcing Lampo to organize a desperate escape plan for the Athenians.
  • Summary: Following the massacre, Syracuse decides to stop feeding the Athenians, ensuring their certain death by starvation, which motivates Lampo to plan an escape. Lampo organizes the breakout with help from Electo, leveraging the Athenians’ starvation to fit through a fence gap. Lampo insists on saving his friends, including Pachas, by kicking other Athenians back into the quarry if his friends are not included.
Thematic Mission Statement
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(01:11:36)
  • Key Takeaway: The book’s core theme is encapsulated by the effort to create beauty and decency being superior to nihilistic collapse.
  • Summary: Lampo plays the slain musician’s instrument at the fence, contrasting his frail music against the sound of rats symbolizing brokenness and disaster. The music represents human efforts—building, singing, decency—which, though small against chaos, are what humanity possesses. The effort itself is deemed worthwhile, even if it feels like pouring water in a desert.
Character Endings and Coda
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(01:15:16)
  • Key Takeaway: Lampo fails to secure Lyra but successfully frees Pachas, while Gellen finds a new purpose teaching drama before dying.
  • Summary: Lampo secures passage for the Athenians, including Pachas, via Turian’s ship from the sacked city of Hikara, though Lampo himself does not leave with Lyra. Gellen forms a bond with a young boy, teaches drama briefly, and dies before Lampo, whose life is recorded by a visiting child years later. The book concludes with Pachas meeting Euripides in Athens, suggesting the play had a positive, albeit small, impact.
Review Discussion and Art’s Role
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(01:20:24)
  • Key Takeaway: Reviewers noted the book’s pacing issues and questioned its depth regarding the classical works it references.
  • Summary: A Guardian review praised the book for avoiding self-congratulation about the power of stories, unlike what some expected. The New York Times review found the narrative somewhat shallow relative to the depth of the Greek tragedies it drew upon. One Goodreads reviewer cited pacing issues, describing a slow start followed by a frantic ending, which the hosts agreed reflected the narrative structure.